Jurassic Park remained unconquered as the Royalists held off the spirited Vidyarthians to mark a 29-07 victory in their week 4 fixture of the Dialog Schools Rugby League 2025.
This was a much anticipated fixture as the Vidyarthians seeked redemption from their loss to historymakers Sri Sumangala, and the Royalists had their final dress rehearsal, before they travel up to the hills to face off against the tiger’s neighbours Trinity.
The game kicked off to a slow start as both teams were struggling to gather momentum within the first 20 minutes, as the Vidyarthian’s held off a 17th minute try to deny Royal of their first score, only to reply with a converted try off a rolling maul at the hands of Vihanga Sathsidu. (RC 00- VC 07)
Royal bounced back immediately with Didula Jayasooriya adding to his top try scorer tally of 8 as he raced through the Tigers’ broken defence to score Royal’s first try. (RC 07-VC 07)
The Royal backline showed high promise as they made inroads into Vidyartha’s territory multiple times, only to lack the finishing touches throughout the game. Skipper Amika Samarasinghe was able to convert one of these plays into points as he touched on the left at the 33rd minute.
Half Time – Royal 12 (2T, 1C) to Vidyartha 07 (1T,1C)
The second half started off in traditional Reid Avenue fashion as Royal scored off 2 rolling mauls at the hands of their stalwart 3rd rower Disas Pathirana in the 40th minute (RC 19 – VC 07) and Nazeer in the 54th minute ( RC 24 – VC 07).
The Vidyarthians struggled to regain their initial momentum as they couldn’t breach the Royal defence and had to defend a barrage of phases built patiently by the Royal forwards.
- Second half surge takes Sumangala to a hard fought win over Thurstan
- S. Thomas’ storm through Nittawala with fourth straight win
- Wesley steamroll St. Peter’s in dominant display
- Late Blitz from Science Not Enough Against a Determined DS Outfit
- Week 4 promises more excitement with the unbeaten tag on the line for 6 teams
Royal skipper Amika had his game cut short as referee Nihal reached for the dreaded yellow card in the 59th minute, for his high shot on the Vidyarthian fullback upon his collection of the kick.
The game ended at 29-07 in favour of Royal as the Swisstek Perfect Player of the Match, Senuja Ranasinghe too was able to touch down in the penultimate minute,
A much improved Vidyartha outfit, yet to taste victory in this competition, will have their work cut out in the bowl segment, as they go into a double header against Thurstan College.
The boys from Reid Avenue will look to improve on finishing their strong backline plays as they will travel to Pallekele to challenge archrivals Trinity in a pre- Bradby fixture next week.
Full Time – Royal 29 (5T, 2C) to Vidyartha 07 (1T,1C)
Swisstek Perfect Player of the Match – Senuja Ranasinghe
Royal College
Didula Jayasooriya 1T
Amika Samarasinghe 1T
Disas Pathirana 1T
Imthizal Nazeer 1T
Idris Farouk 2C
Vidyartha College
Vihanga Sathsidu 1T
Kavindu Hewage 1C
